Building Your Hamstrings

Just like with any body part, the majority of your training should be focused primarily on compound exercises that recruit your target muscle as well as several others to develop overall muscle mass and strength.

Some great compound exercises for the hamstrings would be something like stiff leg or romanian deadlifts, deficit deadlifts, glute-ham raises, lunges, etc. However, in order to really maximize your hamstring development, you should include isolation exercises as well.

One of the best Isolation exercises is the lying hamstring curl.

Hamstring Curl Mistake

As I mentioned earlier, the hamstring curl is where I find people making mistakes most often when training for maximum hamstring growth. And the mistake is so small, it all comes down to one simple point, literally.

The point I’m talking about, is the direction you point your toes while performing the exercise.

That’s right, that’s the big mistake; pointing your toes.

The majority of lifters, when performing hamstring curls, tend to flex their feet and curl their toes up towards their shins. The reason you do this is because it makes the exercise a bit easier and you feel like you can add more weight to the stack.

When we’re trying to make a muscle grow however, we don’t want easy; we want that muscle to be working as hard as it possibly can to cause the greatest stress and therefore growth response.

The reason it’s easier to curl the weight with your toes curled up, is that your calves actually become recruited and assist the hamstrings in curling the weight up. This means your hamstrings are getting less tension, less stress and less stimulation for growth.

Your Fix!

Here’s the big fix that’s going to skyrocket your hammy gains, the next time you perform hamstring curls, point your toes instead of curling them up, and keep them pointed throughout the entire exercise.

Due to the insertions and length of muscle fibers, the calves can’t be activated with both knee flexion and plantar flexion of the ankles (toes pointed).

Try this out on your next leg day and you’ll feel an immediate difference in the activation o your hamstrings. You’ll probably need to lighten the weight you’re using because the contraction in the hamstrings will be so much stronger, it will feel nearly like they are cramping.

The Recap For Better Hamstring Growth

In order to fully develop the hamstrings and train them for optimal growth you need to employ a variety of compound movements and isolation exercises.

One of the best isolation exercises for the hamstrings is lying hamstring curls, however one simple point, or lack thereof could be sabotaging a lot of your hamstring growth.

To enable maximum recruitment of the hamstrings with hamstring curls, be sure to point your toes throughout the entire movement to reduce the involvement of the calves and place the most tension on your hamstrings.

The better activation and quality contractions you can get in the hamstrings, the more they will grow!

Try simply pointing your toes next time you perform hamstring curls and you’ll immediately feel the difference in activation!